Don't make me talk. on Cascade Hall

Headmaster Brockert

August 08, 2015 12:49 PM

Returning Feast by Headmaster Brockert

Another year, another returning feast. In theory, these were things Mortimer liked. Returning to school, to an academic environment, to a job that made him feel significantly more poweful than he would have been otherwise- even though he was a Brockert, which inherently meant power, he was sure never to become Patriarch, more than just Uncle Clifford would have to die for that to happen and say whatever else you wanted to about Mortimer, he did not really wish for his distant relatives' death on a regular basis-and feasting, because well, Sonora had good food.

It was still monotonous. Maybe not quite as much as as the endless parties of the holiday season with their inane babble and sickening cheer but still. It was the same thing every year and even as creature of habit, Mortimer tended to get bored.

He stood to give his usual speech. Well, okay, one could hardly call it such, it was more of a greeting . Even though it wasn't at all in his nature to greet people.

"Welcome back. I hope you all had a good midterm." Okay, pretending to care was getting easier to convey. Idly, Mortimer wondered if Owen actually believed him. The second year should really know him better by now but then again, that kid was so trusting. He was certain that once his granddaughter Topaz got here, she'd see right through it. The four year old was one smart kid, likely too clever for her own good.

"Before we eat, I would just like to remind you all that any vandalism done to the school will be severely punished." He was none too pleased about what had been done to the school last term though Mortimer really couldn't come down on them for gossiping and spreading rumors and speculating about the graffiti. That was like punishing them for breathing. Let Selina deal with all those touchy-feely notions about respecting each other and whatnot. He was enough of a realist to know that wasn't going to happen, especially with teenagers.

He sat back down and the feast began.

Subthreads:

Don't make me talk. by John Spencer with Lena Westley

Fighting an army of Evil. Care to join? by Ava Fletcher

Avoiding Atlas [tag: anyone from any House but Atlas] by Liliana Bannister with Duncan Brockert

No, I don't have an addiction. No, I'm not in denial. by Barnaby Pye with John Umland

The end is near. by Virginia Bellrose with Makenzie Newell, Ginny Bellrose

But what have I returned to? by Wu Peizhi

The path less traveled by. [You're replying to Arne] by Laila Kennedy & Arne Reinhardt

Avoidance is the best therapy. by Caelia Lucan with Kelsey Atwater

By avoidance you can get nothing done. by Emrys Lucan with Emery Kijewski-Jareau, Emery

Eating as much as possible! by Gia Donovan

Rather glad to be back by Louis Valois

Everything has changed. by Joella Curtis

11 Headmaster Brockert Returning Feast 6 Headmaster Brockert 1 5

John Spencer

August 09, 2015 2:58 PM

Don't make me talk. by John Spencer

Last term had been brilliant; his team had beat Adam's, he was getting better as a Chaser and he enjoyed his courses very much. But this term was going to be horrid. Jack's voice had gone from a pure, sweet tenor to a low growly sort. It was lower than his older brother's and Jack was frankly embarrassed by it. Whilst he wanted to talk and be his usual chatty self, he didn't want his peers to hear his vacillating vocal chords. It was mortifying. Gloomily he spooned soup into his mouth, wondering if a hot beverage would burn his throat enough for it to leap back into a high pitch or make it crisp and low forever. He didn't mind it either way, but for it to stay at one pitch, that was all he asked. Speaking in a hybrid pitch between a tenor and a baritone was infuriating. Growing up was stupid. Physical changes were stupid.

The Returning Feast wasn't stupid at least and Jack wanted to avoid speaking. People around here were friendly and seemed to start up conversations with just about everyone. Jack lowered his face a little more towards his soup. He'd been too embarrassed to ask Adam how he'd managed to survive this mortifying ordeal. In fact, he hardly remembered his brother going through puberty at all. Adam had always been somewhat tall - though not nearly as tall as his cousins or their father - with an insatiable stomach. It wasn't anything close to as dramatic as what Jack was currently feeling. Compared to his graceful older brother, Jack felt awkward and self-conscious. Puberty was the worst.

It'd all begun at Christmas time when he'd received a new broom as a gift from his father. In his excitement, Jack's voice had finally cracked. Though it was great fun for his family to tease him about it, it wouldn't stop. Almost overnight, it seemed, his voice decided to rebel against him and the great battle between boyhood and adulthood began. Jack sipped his soup quietly, dying to speak up and make friends. He got on well with his room-mate Barnaby and one of his classmates Jemima, but he didn't consider them close mates yet.

Jack cleared his throat, wondering if there were a potion for vacillating vocal chords so he could speak like a normal wizard. He was doing all right until a problem posed itself immediately: the salad was too far and he couldn't stand up and reach for it without knocking into someone else's dinner. Jack felt his cheeks grow warm as he thought of any possible way to get around asking for assistance.

It was impossible. Jack swiped his tongue over his lips once and opened his mouth. "The salad?" The three syllables went smoothly past his lips and he thanked his vocal chords for cooperating this time.

40 John Spencer Don't make me talk. 299 John Spencer 0 5

Ava Fletcher

August 10, 2015 1:27 AM

Fighting an army of Evil. Care to join? by Ava Fletcher

Ava was shaking. Christmas Eve had brought new revelations to the previously unattached witch and quite honestly she didn’t know how to feel about it. It had really only been that past summer during which she had realized her revulsion to the concept of Love with a capital L. Before that she had loved her grandfather, loved his friends, loved her father, loved her friends, loved her mother (goodness knew why)… But she had never really thought about Love, writing it off as some ridiculously sentimental thing that had made her completely sane mother abandon and saddle her father-in-law with her only child. Lust was not much better, being the precursor to said ridiculous sentiment which also was guilty of forcing the Devil himself to kiss her in the middle of the peanut aisle in the gas station. Crush was just below that in terms of Ava’s scale of Things She Did Not Particularly Like because it was Crush that had made it a little more difficult for Ava to come to terms with her first and previously best friend at Sonora, Dimitri, not being there anymore.

However, over midterm break, Ava had come to realize that Crush was making a horrid comeback and was quickly turning into it’s evil cousin, Lust. Before long, she thought to herself, she would be on the fast train to drowning in the Overlord of All Evils, Love. But none of that mattered right now because Ava had no idea how she was going to face her friends anymore. Her face flushed as she imagined the looks on their faces while she confessed her ill timed attraction. No, it was best if she just kept quiet about it and pretended that none of this was going on.

But…she thought to herself, perplexed, what happened if she needed to talk to someone about it? She certainly couldn’t discuss it with the guys, and she didn’t know if Chloe would understand like she had when Ava had talked to her about her mother issues. And suddenly Ava was in a whole new whirlwind of confusion. Growing up was the worst, she thought, rather immaturely but not really caring that if whoever was spreading the secrets around school was looking into her mind and judging her for thinking like a grade-schooler.

She wiped her now sweaty palms off on the boxy jeans she had on under her robes, Boyfriend Cut, Papa had said proudly when he’d presented them to her at Christmas. The saleslady had apparently told him that it was all the rage in high fashion and he had been pleased that it was a break from the previously form fitting clothes that was oftentimes marketed to young girls. Ava’s grandfather had never made it a secret that he did not like her leggings and skinny jeans since he didn’t think he wanted dirty-minded boys looking at his little girl like that. She then reached out a shaking, clammy hand for the ladle that was in a bowl of green beans and retracted it quickly as though it burned when it brushed against someone else’s hand.

Ava cast her eyes down at her lap. Could they tell all the dirty thoughts she’d had that break about her friends? Did they know she was now a subscriber to the detested Lust? Did it show on her face that she was not nearly as above those sorts of things as she had once been just a month ago? Ava didn’t know, but she also certainly didn’t care to find out. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “I didn’t mean to. You go first.” Dear Merlin, she hoped they couldn’t tell she had a thing not only for one, but both the Jareaus.

10 Ava Fletcher Fighting an army of Evil. Care to join? 258 Ava Fletcher 0 5

Liliana Bannister

August 10, 2015 1:35 AM

Avoiding Atlas [tag: anyone from any House but Atlas] by Liliana Bannister

Liliana was avoiding Atlas. She didn’t really know why she was doing so, but she was. Well, actually, she did know why and she wasn’t about to say so in a room full of people, some of which had taken it upon themselves to be the liberators of the secrets of the population of Sonora. Liliana might have been a Pecari (which as a house, admittedly, were not particularly known for their intellect), and she might have been complete rubbish at Transfiguration and things that required large amounts of attention, but she wasn’t stupid and she would fight whoever insinuated that to the dying breath if she had to. But tonight, she wasn’t looking for a fight and she always wasn’t looking to hear all sorts of wonderful things about Atlas’ Ann Marie, and so with a sickening feeling in her stomach, Liliana avoided her best friend’s gaze and carefully looked around the room as though she was searching for someone.

However, as she did that, she realized that meant she would now need to sit next to someone she knew well enough to purposely sit with them for a chat, which meant she couldn’t just select a seat in between two already seated people who didn’t look like they were particularly friends so that Atlas couldn’t move to sit next to her and strike up a conversation as she had originally planned. Eventually she spotted a friendly acquaintance who looked as though they weren’t engaged in a particular conversation, throwing any rules about sitting with House aside as it really didn’t matter to Liliana if she sat at the Pecari table or not. Besides, as a prefect, she figured it showed some sort of inter-House unity which she hoped the professors would be pleased about.

“How was your break?” she asked cheerfully, hoping that her schoolmate would chatter on nonsense about whatever it was that they had done over break, allowing for her to escape into someone else’s less complicated life. It wasn’t that Liliana didn’t understand that she had it easier than some. She knew that her life had many perks—a loving family with a relatively good amount of money and stable jobs ranked high on her list, as well as being sociable enough to enjoy friends from across houses and years. Even the professors seemed pleased with her despite some of her misgivings in class, and she was Assistant Captain of the Quidditch team. All of these things made her happy, but two things in particular kept bugging the edge of her mind.

They were sort of intertwined in that she knew Grandmère wouldn’t or didn’t approve of either worry, and she was already treading on thin enough ice since disregarding Grandmère’s wishes regarding playing Quidditch, but to then on top of that to have developed such a heavy crush on her best friend, a Muggleborn, was to throw everything her family had been founded on in the bin along with her propriety as not only a Bannister, but also a Rosenthal and a Brouard, since Grandmère always seemed to take Liliana’s offenses as personal offenses against her family. “This family exists because of one brave wizard who escaped persecution from Muggles, horridly war-driven, blood thirsty things that they are,” Liliana could almost hear Grandmère’s voice in her head, scolding her in French, as she asked her school mate to please pass the potatoes.

“Thank you,” she said loudly in an attempt to drown out her grandmother’s admonishing voice, hoping that Quidditch would not be brought up as Liliana had only just gotten over the loss and the resulting fuel it had given Grandmère for her tirade against witches playing Quidditch. “You can’t even win,” she’d said. “Why would you waste your youth, risking injury and potentially even death by flying around on a broom thousands of feet into the air, letting wizards with their uncivilized minds see up your skirt?”

When Liliana had dared to point out that witches didn’t wear skirts while playing Quidditch, Grandmère had fallen into a tizzy over that too and Liliana had been left raising her eyebrows and casting a glance towards Isaac who had shrugged his shoulders as if to say “yeah, she would be against Quidditch for completely different reasons than W.A.I.L.,” and Joseph had interjected that women had been wearing pants and doing all sorts of things that men could do in France for centuries, what difference did Liliana wearing pants make which of course had caused Grandmère to faint and the three cousins had been hurriedly rushed from the room so that their grandmother could recover.

10 Liliana Bannister Avoiding Atlas [tag: anyone from any House but Atlas] 274 Liliana Bannister 0 5

Barnaby Pye

August 10, 2015 4:39 PM

No, I don't have an addiction. No, I'm not in denial. by Barnaby Pye

Though Barnbay was used to being able to spend winter break shuffling around and not really doing much other than hanging around Tarquin when he and his father came over so that their fathers could discuss private matters in the secretive office, he was disappointed to find that he was not being allowed to see Tarquin at all that break. In fact, Barnaby had spent pretty much the entire winter break sitting at home alone. The one time he had seen anyone other than the house elf was when Alfie dropped by a few days before Christmas to give Barnaby his Christmas present. The prolonged absence from Tarquin had Barnaby realizing just how much he missed his older brother—even if Alfie subscribed to an overly indulgent lifestyle. However, one night Father had brought home a package of teas which Tarquin had given his father to give to Barnaby. The small gesture from the only person Barnaby could truly call a friend was touching and Barnaby had ordered their house elf to make him a cup immediately.

Jitters Barnaby hadn’t even known he’d had disappeared the moment his lips touched the cup and once he was done he proceeded to make nearly the rest of the package. After getting approval from his Father, he wrote Tarquin a letter, asking for more tea. Being forced to be holed up inside the Pye estate with nothing much to do other than invade his father’s personal business was not something he really put into the letter since he knew his father would likely be reading the letter before hand delivering it to Tarquin’s just to be sure there was no secret message passing going on. Barnaby returned to Sonora with a full cannister of the tea and special instructions on how to make it to perfection which pleased Barnaby very much because in the past when Tarquin had always brought the tea over to share it generally tasted better than the times Barnaby had tried to make it on his own.

Since starting the tea, Barnaby hadn’t really wanted to eat or drink much else. That was one of the thing Tarquin had warned him against, saying that the tea sometimes made people lose their appetite but that it was vital to keep oneself sustained. Barnaby had dismissed these claims as ridiculous and even though Tarquin’s warnings were coming true, Barnaby was so obsessed with the idea of not letting his friend win, not letting his friend be right, he refused to admit that was the case. So, after Headmaster Brockert’s speech at the beginning of the feast (which Barnaby normally loved for it’s short and succinctness but now lamented that it wasn’t longer, leaving less time to eat), he put a few items on his plate, taking a few bites every now and then when he thought he could stomach it, and pushing the rest around so if Alfie happened to look his way it would look like he had been eating.

Speaking of his brother, Barnaby turned his head towards the professors’ table, eying his elder half-brother suspiciously. Alfie had been extra weird the last time he had come to visit Barnaby at the house. He had talked in hushed whispers, telling Barnaby to keep his head out of anything suspicious and to contact him immediately if he suspected that anything that the Ministry or the Auror Department might dislike was going on in the house. But it had been ages since Barnaby had felt real loyalty towards either his father or Alfie even though in his early years Alfie had basically raised him when he was home, and so Barnaby kept a lid on the potions and spells that Father had been researching and pretended as though he and Tarquin hadn’t found anything of substance when they went poking around the house even though Alfie had said as much that he knew Barnaby and his “creepy little friend” knew things that would interest both Alfie and the Auror Department.

“You’re not part of the department anymore,” Barnaby had said, choosing to get Alfie where he knew it would hurt the most. “I don’t know why you’re still pretending.” But despite the big words, he was still worried. Alfie wasn’t one to throw out accusations, that was what had made him such a good Auror. He kept a cool head, was able to take things into consideration before acting. It was a Pye trait, one that Father had made both his children be well-aware of, something that was and had always been a highly regarded trait in the family. Barnaby poured himself a cup of tea, mourning how the bitter taste lacked a certain oomph Tarquin’s held, and pondered over what all this meant for the Pyes.

He was so into his own head that he didn’t hear as someone near him said something, and suddenly Barnaby’s plans for having a quick, quiet dinner and then retiring to his dorm room where he could retreat into his books and brew himself some of Tarquin’s tea without much question from his dorm mates. That was one good thing about Jack and Jax. Besides the ridiculously matchy-matchy sounding names, they respected privacy. Barnaby got on well enough with Jack that they held a mutual respect for one another, and even though Barnaby had pried into Jax’s life on multiple occasions, the other boy seemed only to make himself more scarce.

Sometimes Barnaby wondered what would happen if he just mentioned the shape-shifting wolf in the room. Would the three of them get over it and move towards the mutual sort of half-friendship that he and Jack shared, would they suddenly become best mates, or would there be a divide, making it so that the room was suddenly unbearable to be in? Barnaby didn’t know which option he was the most afraid of, to be quite frank, and just questioning these things freaked him out. He needed to get Tarquin’s tea in him stat and settle down with a good book. This sort of thinking on an empty stomach just served to give him a headache.

10 Barnaby Pye No, I don't have an addiction. No, I'm not in denial. 298 Barnaby Pye 0 5

Virginia Bellrose

August 10, 2015 5:29 PM

The end is near. by Virginia Bellrose

Ginny tucked a loose hair that had fallen out of the bobbypins behind her ear as she made her way from the covered wagons to the hall. She would never get used to the long ride to and from school now that she lived back in Canada. Having lived in the compound in New Mexico had been so much easier for her. She had taken those short flights too much for granted and now she was paying for it. At least she had some company and Julian and her brother also lived in Canada and they joined up at the same place. It would be too boring for her if she had to ride all by herself until the next pick up point.

She tried to discretely smooth out her blue dress that had become wrinkled from sitting for so long as she took her seat at the Crotalus table. She listened to the drone of the others talking about their holidays and their midterms. Usually, Ginny would seek out her friends to see how the parts of their holidays where she wasn’t at a ball or gathering with them had gone. But this year was different. This year her midterm had gone horribly wrong and she had no idea how it had all come into play. Ginny wasn’t really ready to deal with any of it but she also knew that she couldn’t go around pretending that it hadn’t happened either.

Ginny was already having a difficult time keeping things to herself and she knew if she continued to do so, she would only end up making herself sick over it. Her friends could at least help her through this or perhaps, find a wonderful hiding spot where her grandfather would never find her and she could live peacefully off the land for the rest of her life. Or die trying at any rate.

Her green eyes flickered across the faces at the Pecari table, resting for a moment on a particular one. She enjoyed the sensation that always ran through her body whenever she spotted him. It was a warm feeling, full of energy and happiness. Sometimes, depending on whatever else was going on (such as when those stupid initials somehow made their way onto that three), Ginny also felt confusion worry whenever she saw him. But most of the time, it was always a good feeling. She would miss having it once they’ve graduated and he moved on to better things than her.

Ginny looked down at her plate as the Headmaster began his short speech. Sometimes Ginny wondered if he enjoyed his job. He didn’t talk much and she never really saw him out and about like she did the other staff members. She wondered if he was only playing the part to keep an eye on his relatives. She wouldn’t put that past any of the traditionalist that she was now forced into knowing.

Sighing, Ginny plucked some salad onto her plate, not feeling very much like eating anything of substance. She had to wonder why her grandfather chose now to make her life more difficult. She had RATS to worry about and now she had to worry about betrothals? Ginny was always aware that she might be put into one, but she didn’t know that she would be so forced into it for the sake of her future. Ginny couldn’t even get one boy to like her and now she had to find one that was willing to marry her? It was absolutely impossible.

Ginny was knocked out of her thoughts when a spoonful of mashed potatoes landed into her salad. The shock made her jump in her seat, which led to an embarrassed blush to spread quickly across her face. “Merlin, you startled me.” She stated with an embarrassed giggle. “Are you okay?”

6 Virginia Bellrose The end is near. 0 Virginia Bellrose 0 5

Lena Westley

August 11, 2015 4:14 AM

Wouldn't Think of It by Lena Westley

Two words were an adequate amount as far as Lena was concerned. She knew the boy next to her needed the salad, what else needed to be said? The past semester she had started talking to people and although not good at chit chat she was able to string a few sentences together. That being said she didn’t exactly desire stringing them together when it wasn’t necessary or when she wasn’t in the mood for distraction.

Lena passed her fellow Aladren the salad bowl, not saying anything. It was refreshing to have someone not want to talk. The boy, with his face all but buried in his bowl as if it were a perfectly reasonable hiding place, obviously didn’t want to talk. Lena, though not at all adept at picking up social cues, knew this one very well. She didn’t invent it, she hadn’t perfected it, but darn if she hadn’t used it throughout her entire first three years here. This fourth year was very different having joined a club, actually speaking with people other than her brother after Olivier had been absent several classes, and even talking with Olivier more as opposed to just daydreaming while in the presence of Olivier. She was becoming downright personable.

“Potatoes, please?” Well, maybe not downright personable. She didn’t even make eye contact with the boy when asking him. But she was definitely getting better.

7 Lena Westley Wouldn't Think of It 279 Lena Westley 0 5

Wu Peizhi

August 11, 2015 2:08 PM

But what have I returned to? by Wu Peizhi

It was never going to get any easier, Peizhi noted with dismay. This Sonora thing. Certainly she liked the school itself and the location, and no one had thus far been outwardly cruel to her, but nonetheless, she longed for a dramatic reduction in population. Sonora was not even a particularly big school, so she supposed she ought to have been grateful to Father for sending her here, but even this relatively low number was simply too much for her.

Father wanted her to make connections, less for herself (although stumbling upon a suitable husband, the eleven year old knew, could do her family no harm) but for her sister. Serenity’s future family, assuming she married Adam, not only heavily populated but ran the school, and Father wanted to learn about whom she would associate, the other established families of the midwest. She had gathered that the primary families, it seemed, were the Brockerts, the Careys, and perhaps the Wolseithcraftes as four of them currently attended Sonora. But maybe she was wrong; Peizhi had done little discussion and more observing, and things were always different from the inside.

But the Teppenpaw did not like “the inside”. It all made her so dreadfully nervous. The only thing worse than great feasts like these were individual conversations; group chatter made her feel nauseous and overwhelmed, but at least she could typically hide beneath the sound and blend into the group. When one was alone with someone else, one could not hide. The other person was always looking, always evaluating. Constantly.

Still, Peizhi knew she needed to practice forcing herself into these things. At least her Housemates were all rather nice. The yellow House was evidently known for gentleness and kindness, which was a relief. No conversation was better than any conversation, but if there had to be some, it was better to find someone sweet with whom to engage. She took a deep breath and then swallowed hard, her stomach whirling at the idea of what was ahead. Summoning all her might, she turned to a friendly-looking neighbor and, as they reached for a dish, inquired meekly, “Could you pass when you are done?”

12 Wu Peizhi But what have I returned to? 316 Wu Peizhi 0 5

Makenzie Newell

August 11, 2015 2:32 PM

In more ways than one. by Makenzie Newell

Break had been a welcome change of scenery and a lovely opportunity to see her parents, but Makenzie was ready to return to classes by the end of it. She had gone home enthusiastic about an environment where somebody did not usually loom over her, but to her discontent, Dustin’s hovering had continued through all major family gatherings. And because of the closeness of their fathers and of their physical proximity, she had actually been around him more at home than at Sonora. At least here she could hide in her Common Room without his glaring green eyes burning into the back of her head.

She just had to get through the feast and she could escape. Maybe she could spend some time with her roommates! Oh, the redhead had missed them despite the relative shortness of the break. She had worked very hard to pick out their gifts this year, and she could not wait to hand them over.

Makenzie probably could have done so at the feast, but she forgot the boxes in her luggage, which had, by the time she remembered, already been dealt with by the elves. But that was fine, she supposed. It wasn’t like she would not see them later.

Because she did not have the gifts, she did not bother to put an effort into seating herself by Araceli or Uzume. They could just catch up later in their shared room. But seating herself was a bit of a task, if for no other reason than she could feel Dustin staring at her, making sure she sat by someone respectable, no doubt. With somewhat shaken legs, she wiggled in by Ginny Bellrose, the seventh year Prefect of good blood. Someone Dustin would approve. She felt his gaze lessen.

But when food was served, it returned with equal power. What was she eating? How was her etiquette? Makenzie felt her fingers shaking as she reached for some mashed potatoes, but as she lifted the spoon, a twitch of nervous fingers sent its contents flying, landing not too far, but directly in… Ginny’s salad.

The older girl jumped, and for good reason. “Merlin, you startled me,” she explained immediately, and was she laughing about it? “Are you okay?”

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Makenzie burst. “I’m fine, but--oh, your salad! I’m really sorry about that!” The thirteen year old almost felt like crying, she was so embarrassed. And if Dustin saw this--which he surely did, since that little brat saw everything--things were only about to get worse. He’d hire somebody in her House to keep a watch on her, maybe even one of her roommates! Sonora had been so peaceful before Dustin got here, but now he was ruining everything!

12 Makenzie Newell In more ways than one. 291 Makenzie Newell 0 5

Laila Kennedy & Arne Reinhardt

August 11, 2015 4:07 PM

The path less traveled by. [You're replying to Arne] by Laila Kennedy & Arne Reinhardt

Going back to Turner’s Point had actually been a lot easier than Laila had originally thought. She’d had no problem fitting back in with her friends and family and found that it was actually a lot easier to lie than she’d previously thought possible. It must have been all the lies I told Mamma about church, she thought to herself as she sat on the wagon, flying back to Sonora. Laila didn’t know why it was that lying wasn’t bothering her like just the thought of it used to. It was an unsettling feeling, and just the thought of being able to dictate what other people thought was kind of…it was intriguing, and it called to her like some strange sort of beckoning flame. If she got too close, she’d burn, but as Laila had found, burning and coming close to burning were two very different things and she thought she quite liked the latter.

However, any confidence she’d gained from being around her old friends vanished almost instantaneously as she spotted the school below. It was such a different feeling, going between the two worlds. In one, she was the beloved daughter of town legend, a good Catholic girl, a shining example of propriety. In the other, she was just a Muggleborn confused and alone. If there ever was a trial of faith, Laila thought to herself as the wagon landed, she was currently in the midst of one. She looked around the wagon at the students getting off, her eyes falling on one boy in particular. Her conversation with him in Charms the previous term had gone more or less well and even though he was the quiet sort who mostly seemed to keep to himself when he wasn’t talking to his twin sister, Laila thought that she had gotten along just fine with him. He really seemed to be the only person in the entire school that wasn’t from Turner’s Point who was okay with talking to her despite being older than her and in a different house. So, as Laila disembarked from the wagon, she scrambled after him, hoping to perhaps catch his attention and casually ask how his break went. That was how one went about making friends, wasn’t it?

Unfortunately, her plans did not come to fruit as the ever clingy Arne Reinhardt grabbed her elbow. He hadn’t bothered her the entire wagon ride down as he appeared to be deep in discussion with his older brother about something—apparently they had made up from whatever tiff they’d been in, but now that they had landed and were walking in separate directions to go to their respective house tables Arne seemed to have remembered her. “How was your break, Kennedy?” he asked in that infuriatingly smug tone of his that he always seemed to reserve just for her. “You ignored my post and we live in the same town. I’m hurt, Kennedy, just hurt.” He clasped a hand to his chest in mock pain and Laila rolled her eyes knowing that if only her mother were there to see her now she’d likely have gotten a sound scolding.

“Oh buzz off, Arne,” she replied tossing her hair and finding a seat at the Crotalus table. Over the months she’d found it to get easier and easier to brush him aside and not feel guilty for it. He was like this annoying little bug that she could never get rid of. And he smelled funny—granted, all the Reinhardts smelled funny and it wasn’t a bad funny, just an interesting one. Like soot and metal and smoke, which now that she thought about it wasn’t a horrible scent and kind of reassuring, however on Arne it annoyed her. “Go bother somebody else.”

“There’s nobody else I like to bother more than you, Kennedy,” he said with a leer.

Laila couldn’t retort, however, because Headmaster Brockert began welcoming them back for the term and chastising them for the vandalism that had been going on. The feeling of guilt was one that she was long accustomed to and even though Laila wasn’t the one who had done it, she still bowed her head, feeling her cheeks heat up. She said a silent prayer for the vandalizer and then another one for herself, suddenly being overcome with the horrible feeling of guilt for having taken pride in the lying she’d accomplished over break. She couldn’t believe she had actually taken pleasure and confidence from such immoral behavior!

“Feeling guilty?” Arne leaned in and breathed close to her ear.

Laila jumped, startled with the closeness and warmth of his breath before reaching out and slapping him. She recoiled instantly, both ashamed and excited by what she had done—which frightened her, and so she mumbled a quick apology, grabbed a roll off the table and ran out of Cascade Hall for the Crotalus dorms where she would drop to her knees and beg for forgiveness and then climb into bed where she wasn’t sure if she would eat the roll or not because she was really hungry but also felt as though she needed to punish herself.

For Arne’s part, he blinked a couple times, refusing to touch his stinging cheek in an attempt to make it feel better. “Damn, Kennedy,” he said with a laugh and turned around to make conversation with the person on the other side of him. “Don’t worry, that was my fault,” he said jovially. “So, how was your break? Oh, and can you pass the rolls, please? She seems to have taken the last one from this basket.”

OOC: All the Reinhardts as in all the PNW Reinhardts as those are the ones Laila is most familiar with.

10 Laila Kennedy & Arne Reinhardt The path less traveled by. [You're replying to Arne] 318 Laila Kennedy & Arne Reinhardt 0 5

Ginny Bellrose

August 11, 2015 9:17 PM

That sounds ominous. by Ginny Bellrose

Ginny had been so lost in her own miserable thoughts about her own life, that she had been so oblivious to the going on around her. She did that sometimes. Ginny would allow her negative thoughts or her fears to consume to the point where she was hardly recognizable anymore. That all had come to screaming to the front in her Fifth year when she had the falling out with her friends and she had allowed her anxieties to take over her life, leaving her looking like an utter pathetic mess in the wake of it.

She was trying very hard to keep her wits about her. With feeling like everything was going against her, it was all that she could do about not fall apart. Ginny had been prepared to live out her life as a spinster dancing in the little dance room that her parents had set up for her when they had moved and pretending to be happy for those around her. But her Grandfather had other plans for her now. She had to find someone who was willing to marry her or else she was disinherited. She knew her father had done something to cause this sort of reaction from her Grandfather, but she had no idea what or why she was being punished for it. Ugh, she really hated her life!

“Oh, don’t worry about it.” Ginny stated, placing a reassuring hand on the younger girl’s should and giving it a pat. With her free hand, Ginny pulled her wand out and waved it over the mess that was now in her salad, “Evanesco” She said calmly and watched as both the salad and the potatoes disappeared. She really loved that spell sometimes. She wished she could use it to erase certain moments of her life. Embarrassing, horrible moments. She also wished that she could use it on her feelings. If she wasn’t so desperate for Adam to notice her, she wouldn’t have taken so easily to Maxwell simply because he had noticed her. Ginny hated being so vulnerable to something so uncontrollable.

Her eyes flickered over to the Pecari table again. She wondered how he was doing. If he had made the trip back safely and without much issue. She wondered if he had met anyone at one of the many parties he had surely been invited to and if he was wooing her with his charms the way that just came naturally to him…

Quickly looking away from the Pecaris, Ginny closed her eyes and reminded herself that she needed to move on. There was no point in dwelling on him or thinking about the future or even sulking about the fact that his future would not be her future too. When she let herself begin to think about things like that, she became upset and then that just ruined her mood for the rest of her night. She needed to focus on the Dance Club party that she was putting together with the group for the weekend and she had to focus on RATS. That was all she had time for.

Ginny grabbed herself another salad and looked at the young girl next to her. Ginny saw her around the common rooms, but she wasn’t sure of her name. “Are you sure you’re okay?” Ginny asked, the girl seemed so upset over her potatoes. “I’m Ginny Bellrose, by the way.” Never hurt to introduce herself and having been at Sonora for so long, she didn’t think about adding in the rest of the introduction. It seemed a bit pointless these days anyway.

6 Ginny Bellrose That sounds ominous. 0 Ginny Bellrose 0 5

Jack Spencer

August 12, 2015 11:44 AM

Thanks for being considerate. by Jack Spencer

It was incredibly difficult not to say anything or strike up a conversation; wasn't it considered rude not to even thank someone? But the witch he'd asked didn't seem keen to chat and Jack simply nodded when he received it to show his thanks. He settled gloomily back into his seat, feeling cursed to silence for the rest of the term. His mates would laugh at him otherwise and Jack didn't want that. Adam would've done loads better at accepting this curse, but Jack didn't have that same charisma or light-heartedness.

The witch asked for potatoes in a terse manner and Jack wondered if she was going through the same thing as well. Did witches suffer these sorts of things? He couldn't remember Charlotte ever going through this either, but then again both she and Adam were the ideal children. Puberty had only made them more attractive, not awkward, self-conscious individuals.

Jack passed the potatoes over to the witch, wondering what he could say to at least break the overwhelming silence. "I'm Jack," he told her. His scratchy voice sounded like a hybrid between a tenor and a baritone, and after those two words he thought it'd be best to simply stop speaking again and eat his dinner as quickly as possible.

40 Jack Spencer Thanks for being considerate. 299 Jack Spencer 0 5

Caelia Lucan

August 12, 2015 3:18 PM

Avoidance is the best therapy. by Caelia Lucan

Caelia had been loathe to find that despite Mother having somehow miraculously overcome the insane Arthur-myth hunting that had taken up her youth and that of Emrys' as well, Mother had decided they would spend their Christmas with her parents instead of Grandmother Viviane. When Caelia had explained that she really didn't think Grandmother Viviane should be left alone in that big house all by herself, Mother had actually gotten mad with her and said that Grandmother Viviane could die for all she cared, she was taking her children to see her parents and that was final.

It wasn't that Caelia disliked her mother's parents...she just...found them to be far less glamorous than Grandmother Viviane. Certainly they had equivalent money, but while Grandmother Viviane used hers to have nice dresses and jewelry and hold fancy teas, the Quinns used their to buy more dusty books and the cheapest rather than the latest fashion so that they could spend even more money on the sort of book that Caelia really could care less about but she knew Emrys found fascinating.

Perhaps that was why she didn't like to go to the Quinn house, she thought to herself as she put a delicious looking puffed pastry on her plate that smelled as though it was filled with spiced meat, at Grandmother Viviane's she was the golden child and all sorts of attention was given her while at the Quinns she was quiet and prissy and not smart enough to follow the intellectual discussion. And furthermore, going to the Quinns meant seeing him.

Caelia ducked her head down, her blonde curls hiding her face from her housemates. She hadn't hung out with him since she started Sonora and realized he would never get his letter, and moving to Ekley to live with Grandmother Vivine had been this amazing opportunity to get away from him. However, every time she looked out her old bedroom window she saw him outside conversing politely with Emrys, helping his parents carry things into the house, shoveling her grandparents driveway even though they could have just as easily cleared it with magic.

But every now and then she'd seen him glance up towards her window, a half smile on his sad little face and she knew he'd known that she was avoiding him, and that she'd known he'd known. Despite his misgivings he was just as smart as the rest of her family which made it--had made it, he was in the past now, frustrating to talk to him sometimes, but she'd always enjoyed the leg up she'd had over him in the magic department. She'd never really realized what a big deal that was until Grandmother Viviane had pointed out that he was a shame to his family and that it really wasn't proper for them to let him run around in public like that. Thank goodness she had Grandmother Viviane to steer her in the right direction, Caelia thought.

She quickly pushed those thoughts out of her mind, however, as she turned to the person sitting next to her with a big grin. She was back at Sonora, she didn't have the time nor the energy to dwell on horrible thoughts like that when they weren't her fault and couldn't be helped at all. That was just how he was born. "Glad to be back?" she opened with, wanting to talk about the coming term more than anything.

10 Caelia Lucan Avoidance is the best therapy. 307 Caelia Lucan 0 5

Emrys Lucan

August 12, 2015 3:42 PM

By avoidance you can get nothing done. by Emrys Lucan

Emrys had been noticing the odd behavior of his little sister for quite awhile now. He had tried to speak with her about it on several occasions but each time she brushed him off which, of course, only served to worry him further. Over the past few years she had only ever given him vague excuses, but he knew that the truth of the matter was that Grandmother Viviane had gotten into the mind of his innocent, sweet, pure sister and poisoned it against anyone who wasn't up to her own standards. Which meant Caelia no longer loved the Quinn grandparents as she once had, which meant she no longer enjoyed hanging out with him and Matt as she once had. He'd even caught her bad mouthing Wesley once which, while he himself was disappointed with some of the stuff his cousin had gotten into recently, only saddened Emrys further that he was losing his baby sister.

She had refused to talk about anything other than the barrettes she'd bought Kelsey Atwater for Christmas on the wagon ride over or the little good luck charm she'd picked up for Kira Spaulding to put on her jacket or bag or something. Emrys hadn't even known Caelia was friends with the first year, but apparently Caelia had thought they'd gotten on well enough in class the one time they'd talked and Emrys had been so delighted to see the bubbly, naive side of his sister who thought friends could be made that easily he didn't even bother to think about how she'd discarded Matt.

Nevertheless, as he watched her sit at the Crotalus table happily chatting to one of her housemates, he frowned. Getting through to her was difficult. He'd tried several times and failed, each attempt and getting her to come back to her old self was met with a withering stare he knew she'd picked up from Grandmother Viviane and was followed by a silly laugh that seemed to say "Oh, Emrys, you know nothing about anything." Which was kind of frustrating because Emrys was the one who was supposed to know everything.

He pushed his food around on his plate aimlessly. He and Caelia had never really had such contrasting views about anything before. Perhaps it was a part of growing up, he reasoned. She was older now and bound to start making her own opinions. She couldn't always be his baby sister and she couldn't always just agree with everything he said. It was part of life. And Emrys didn't want her to share all his ideals, she would never be her own person if she did. But...did she have to disagree with him on this?

Part of him realized it was a ridiculous conversation to be having with himself because Caelia was only twelve which meant she wasn't done forming her own opinions yet, however he was almost positive that Grandfather Myrddin and Grandmother Viviane had hated Muggles and Muggleborns and Squibs for most nearly their entirely lives, certainly when they were twelve.

He looked down on his plate. Not much had been eaten but he wasn't really in the mood to eat a substantial dinner that night. He needed something sweet. "Can you pass the pie?" he asked his neighbor after he spotted a particularly good looking dish of blackberry pie.

10 Emrys Lucan By avoidance you can get nothing done. 260 Emrys Lucan 0 5

Lena Westley

August 12, 2015 8:59 PM

Save your thanks- conversation, here we come by Lena Westley

After she thanked him for the potatoes the boy introduced himself. “I'm Jack.”

“Lena” she replied, sticking her hand out to shake before saying “Nice to meet you.” She wasn't sure he'd notice her outstretched hand, the boy having turned to his meal again but attempted the gesture anyway.

She hadn't expected the boy to talk. He reminded her of herself a year ago with the lowered head, very little eye contact and few words. It was normal to introduce yourself but was it normal then to not talk? She didn't think so, and regarded this as an “opener” for a conversation. Only she didn't have any idea what people usually talked about.

“What year are you?” She asked, honestly curious. He looked younger and she hadn't seen him in her classes. Of course, she also didn't recognize most of the people she'd been in the same classes with for four years. She had only seriously started taking note of people this year. He could very well be in her class and just have a baby face.

In any case she was glad to be back at Sonora, where her social skills were improving and where she could spend quality time with others. One person in particular, but others all the same. Her thoughts ceased their rambling when Jack replied.

7 Lena Westley Save your thanks- conversation, here we come 279 Lena Westley 0 5

Emery Kijewski-Jareau

August 13, 2015 7:13 PM

But... sometimes that's what's best. by Emery Kijewski-Jareau

Emery’s midterm had been alright, all things considered. Angel’s health wasn’t getting any better even though the Healer’s seemed optimistic. His parents had told them that Angel had been in the hospital for the better half of term and had only just recently been released and allowed to go back home. It had been a severe illness that he had caught and it had nearly ended his life. Emery had a mild panic attack at the idea of his brother being hospitalized and Emery not being able to be with him.

It was strange to think how far their relationship had come. Chloe and Ayita were much closer than Emery was to her, but he figured that was a girls’ thing. Emery loved Ayita as she had become family to him and he wished for her to be happy. But when Angel joined their family, it was different. Angel was different. He was sickly and albino. He had been the opposite of what Emery had known to understand. Angel hadn’t understood family or love. He was like a small child getting to learn everything for the first time even though he was older than Emery.

Now, after all that time of everyone adjusting and adapting, Emery couldn’t have asked for a better family. He would feel completely strange without his older brother in his life. He knew that there would come a day when he would have to say good bye to him, but none of them were ready for that just yet. Chloe would have a far more difficult time with saying good bye (with their parents and Harper being the ones handling it the worst), but Emery had a special place in his heart where his siblings were stored and he wasn’t willing to part with ever. He especially didn’t want it to happen while he was away at school.

Now he was back at school and other things were filling his mind. Or, to be more precise, someone was filling his mind. That seemed to happen to him more and more as time went on. Whenever his mind had a moment to spare from school work or family, it wandered to her face. He had ever part of it memorized. He had the blue of her eyes and the curve of her mouth etched into his memory. It was embarrassing how often he thought of her and he knew that if she ever found out about it, she would probably be disgusted with him and never speak to him again.

Feeling like it was best to not sit directly with her (just yet), Emery took a seat beside his best friend, Emrys. He seemed like something was bothering him a bit, so Emery didn’t say anything to him until his friend initiated it. Emery was the sort who didn’t like people to pester him when he was angry, so he tried to do his best to do the same for others.

Can you pass the pie

“Sure thing.” Emery replied, reaching out and taking hold of the pie and handing it over to Emrys. Looking at his plate, Emery noted that he hadn’t eaten much. “Only in it for the dessert?” Emery asked, half joking. “Let me know how good the pie is and I might just go for a piece myself.” Emery always tried to eat a balanced meal while at Sonora (to make his mother happy), but sometimes it was hard to do when most of the time he remained a vegetarian and there wasn’t always a grand selection.

6 Emery Kijewski-Jareau But... sometimes that's what's best. 259 Emery Kijewski-Jareau 0 5

Gia Donovan

August 13, 2015 9:22 PM

Eating as much as possible! by Gia Donovan

Gia was not sure how she was currently feeling about being back at Sonora. She really loved spending time with Sammy and she had an amazing way of making everything seem so light and cheery. But Gia was always sad to leave her mother’s side. Her mother always seemed so lonely whenever they left her. Gia and her brother were the only things that her mother had in her life since their dad died. Gia knew that her mother found their education to be the best for their future and so she was going to do what she needed to make it worth it for her mother, but she still missed her. It had only been the three of them for so long and now they were separated.

The best thing about it her and her brother being away was that her mother was able to be around other adults more. Gia had come to find out that her mother had a girls’ night out regularly. She was so happy that her mother was able to make friends! Gia was finding it hard to make some of her own, so if her mother could do it, she could do it too!

Gia said good bye to her brother after they hopped off the wagon and made her way over to the Pecari table. Gia always loved coming back to Sonora because there was an excited buzz in the air as the students all greeted one another and gleefully told one another about their winter breaks (or summer breaks, depending on the feast). She never really listened to what they were saying, but she loved the drone that it created against the waterfall walls of Cascade Hall. It was almost musical in sound and she felt like dancing to it.

Unfortunately, the music never really lasted very long because the Headmaster stood up and started his short speech. Gia remembered her Great Grandmother only a little bit, but what she remembered was this woman who had this underlying fierceness about her. The Headmaster reminded her of her grandmother in that sense. Whether she was correct in her feelings or not was another matter, but for now, Gia wasn’t going to do anything that would lead her to the Headmaster’s office. It was already horrifying enough to have the Deputy Headmistress question her regarding the initials in the tree. Gia felt so guilty and she hadn’t even had anything to do with it! She didn’t even have feelings for anyone in that way let alone specifically someone with an ‘A’ name!

Shaking the memory from her mind, Gia smiled happily to the people around her as the food made an appearance in front of her. Sonora food was wonderful. She was so used to Greek food that coming here had done a number on her stomach, but now she was used to it and really liked the flavor of some of the dishes. Taking a spoonful of potatoes, Gia began to fill her plate. It was a long flight from Washington and she was starving.

“This food is quite delicious.” She stated, her vocabulary always slightly formal due to her lessons from her mother and now the lessons she was receiving while at Sonora.

6 Gia Donovan Eating as much as possible! 308 Gia Donovan 0 5

Emrys

August 14, 2015 4:23 PM

You're a wise man, Emery Kijewskii-Jareau. by Emrys

When Emery took a seat next to Emrys, he had looked up and then nodded acknowledgment to his best friend but didn’t speak more than that. And, to his credit, Emery didn’t force him to. Emrys had always appreciated that about Emery. He was nice and quiet and smart. And it made him beyond angry that Caelia didn’t consider him to be a proper friend. Emrys couldn’t care less about the blood status of his friends, all that mattered was that they were kind people and able to hold a semi-intelligent conversation. When Emery passed the pie to him, Emrys smiled his thanks and served himself a piece. He took a careful bite. It was good. Of course it was good, the prairie elves always made delicious food. He pushed the serving dish over to Emery and nodded toward it. “-’s good,” he mumbled, taking another bite of the warm, delicious dessert.

He watched Emery for a few moments, silently taking in the curly hair and the friendly face. “You’re my best friend, you know that?” Emrys said solemnly, not caring how weird or out of the blue the remark was. “And I really couldn’t give a damn about blood or any of that other crap. You know that, right?” He searched Emery’s face for a few moments before dropping his gaze back down towards the pie. He pushed a softened blackberry around, letting it swirl the sweet, gooey filling over the previously clean plate and set his fork down again. His fingers twitched against the napkin and he sighed.

“Sorry,” he said now. This thing with Caelia had really gotten him all turned around. He was out of it, completely at a loss as to what he ought to do. “Let’s talk about something else. Anything else. What’s up with you…in your life…how’s that going for you…?” Emrys trailed off feeling beyond awkward and embarrassed. He knew the generalities of his friends’ lives and he had kept them updated on his over the break, sending them all owls and Christmas cards, which meant there likely wasn’t a lot to catch up on, not like after summer break when it would have been a couple months since the last time he saw his friends compared to only a couple weeks.

As Emery answered his question, Emrys tried his hardest to pay attention to what his friend was saying. However, he found that even though he was genuinely interested in how things were going for Emery, his mind kept wandering. He couldn’t fully concentrate on what Emery was saying, he just kept thinking about how intolerant he didn’t want his sister to get, wondering just how far this deep rooted “ism” went. Had he been surrounded by it his entire life and just not realized it because he was one of those privileged few who was not affected by the elitism of the pureblood class? And furthermore…he gave his classmates around him a suspicious look…who else was like that?

10 Emrys You're a wise man, Emery Kijewskii-Jareau. 260 Emrys 0 5

Kelsey Atwater

August 15, 2015 6:59 PM

It depends on what you're avoiding by Kelsey Atwater

The older she got, the better Midterm was. Obviously, Kelsey had never known about it before last year from the perspective of a Sonora student,it had just been a time when her cousins came home from school and they had holiday festivities, but now she found it to be absolutely fabulous. Not because she didn't like school, Kelsey found her classes interesting and enjoyed the company of the other Crotali in her year, but Midterm meant parties. Even though she was only twelve, her parents made sure to take her to all sorts of events, which meant they were proud to show her off and in turn, that made Kelsey proud of herself. Above all, she did want to be seen as a fine, proper young lady.

Not that she'd ever been told she was anything but. She'd always shined in this area and it seemed to come as natural to the second year as breathing. However, even if it hadn't, Kelsey would certainly have put a lot of effort into it. There was nothing more important. It was how society judged you and society was where she wanted to be. Besides, she was sure to get a better husband by being so. Propriety went a long way with that. Serena was a very proper lady and she seemed to have attracted the attentions of a prince .

Of course, even though Kelsey found being a lady to be easy, it didn't mean she didn't put anything extra into it. She tried to get the best grades she possibly could and be informed on what was going on the world. That way all her parents' and grandparents' friends would be impressed with her and tell her parents how intelligent and mature she was. She kept up on the latest fashions and tried to perfect her look, including watching her weight rather than pigging out. She practiced all those femine art forms deemed appropriate for pureblood girls, such as sketching, piano and dance. Not that Kelsey had to do so the way Chaslyn did, but enough to be able to hold her own in those areas and be an example.

That was another thing the Crotalus wanted. To be held up as a shining example of a pureblood woman some day. An example for not only her little sister Natalie and her younger female cousins but for all pureblood girls at Sonora that came after her. Someone to look up to.

She took a seat near Caelia, and listened to the Headmaster's brief remarks. The vandalism around the school was something that Kelsey naturally wholeheartedly did not approve of. It showed disrespect to both the school and the people they were talking about, who for all she knew were people deserving of respect. She could only suspect it was some Muggleborn or halfblood. Purebloods had better manners.

"Glad to be back?"

Kelsey considered her friend's question. "Well, I had a lovely break, but I can't say I'm exactly bothered by it." Both school and home had their good points. "What about you?" She rather assumed Caelia would prefer break with the parties and her wonderful sounding grandmother and a small vacation from schoolwork that her roommate seemed to struggle with and which Kelsey would be pleased to help her on.

11 Kelsey Atwater It depends on what you're avoiding 305 Kelsey Atwater 0 5

Duncan Brockert

August 15, 2015 7:36 PM

Well, I'm not him. by Duncan Brockert

Even though he was getting more used to living friends, Duncan still loved spending midterm with all the ghosts at home. They'd been with him his entire life and were as much a part of his family as his parents and sister. He knew some people considered pets family-Juniper loved her horse more than anything-so why couldn't ghosts be? Especially when they were the siblings of his direct ancestors and thus actually related to him.

Not that Duncan didn't see his living relatives too. Holiday breaks tended to start off with family events and gradually give way to parties for larger society. This year, his father's cousin Melora and her family had even come, instead of spending the time with her husband Isaac's family, or in some far flung exotic location. Their daughter Tasha would be entering Sonora next term and she had a lot of questions for Duncan, more so than his sister-who was only a year younger than Tasha-ever had. Juniper had never been very talkative but this year she seemed really withdrawn. Of course, maybe it was just because his cousin was around for comparison.

Then again, maybe it was because of the parties. Mother had insisted that not only did he go but Juniper as well. Even though she was herded off to the children's room with the others closer to her age, including Tasha. Duncan could tell his sister really didn't like being there, she was a really shy child, more so than he'd even realized and Mother just wanted to toss her in to interacting with others and force her to be more social. The Teppenpaw didn't really think he liked this much and figured it had to be why she seemed so down. Naomi-one of the ghosts that inhabited their home-had told him that Mother had been doing this quite a bit. All Duncan knew was that he hated seeing his little sister feel so bad but he really didn't know what to do about it.

That's when a voice interrupted his thoughts. Apparently, Duncan hadn't been paying attention to what the Headmaster said. Of course, as the Headmaster never said much, he didn't think he'd really missed anything.

"It was all right." He told Liliana as he passed her the potatoes. "I mean, nothing unusual. Same old seeing the family and going to parties. My cousins came and they don't always so that was cool." Duncan didn't really want to talk to anyone about his worries. "How was yours?"

11 Duncan Brockert Well, I'm not him. 271 Duncan Brockert 0 5

John Umland

August 20, 2015 4:57 PM

We have that in common. Go us. by John Umland

Things had been so close to normal over the holidays that sometimes, John had almost believed there was nothing wrong. They had all decorated the house together on Christmas Eve and attended midnight services afterward, visited Grandma and Grandpa on Boxing Day, eaten an apricot butter cake at teatime on New Year’s Day, prepared a lavish array of breakfast foods for a late supper on Twelfth Night, and similarly studiously observed any number of smaller traditions, some so small that he doubted he would ever notice they were traditions unless they were somehow left out someday. It had all been just as it always had been, so much so that he had almost been able to forget about what had happened at school over the past few months.

Almost.

The last thing that had happened, though, had been impossible to completely put out of his mind over the holidays. Every time he almost forgot the look on Julian’s face when he caught up with her in the Transfiguration classroom after it was vandalized, something happened to make him remember it. Sometimes it was the big things – when Miss Lynch presumed to come to his house, the two times when Julian had just not been around and had evaded the question when he asked where she’d been – but just as often, the unwelcome thoughts just came out of nowhere.

Julian had read what was written in Transfiguration, been upset, and lied to him about it. She kept talking to those people, these relatives from out of nowhere who only liked her now that she had their stupid cousin’s money, only she was apparently too dim to realize that was the only reason they were even being civil. Worse, though, was how Julian was also being civil to them, as though she wanted them to like her. That was definitely the worst, not to mention the most confusing, part, because why would she want those people to like her? Why had she been so defensive and almost scared, as though she had something to hide, something she was guilty of, when he found her? What was wrong with her?

Then he remembered the first things that had gone through his brain that day and wasn’t sure if he should suspect her at all or not. Let ye who are without sin cast the first stone. Honor thy father and mother. For him, ‘father’ was an easy one, there was God and there was Dad, no third parties who even knew he existed as far as he knew, but ‘mother….’

He didn't want any woman other than Mom to be his mother in any sense of the term, but the fact remained that one particular other woman was half-responsible for his existence. To some people, that meant she was still his mother in one sense even if the speaker had the sense to acknowledge Mom was also his mother now, and he could not honestly claim that he did now or had ever honored the Other Mom under any serious definition of the term. He had gotten angry with his brother Paul for even telling their mutual source of genes that John played Quidditch and was in a House for smart people, because he just wanted to ignore her existence. He couldn't really acknowledge it without some anger, much less acknowledge it and then honor her.

I don’t owe her anything. Except for not dropping me down a well when I was a baby, I suppose. Do I really owe her a prize for behavior I’d expect from most any mammal?

Not much better thoughts than the ones that somehow led to Julian wanting Miss Lynch and the Crowleys to like her because she thought they were better than their family. There were times, recently, when John could almost understand why someone might want to be stupid and not think about anything deeper than shoes.

He glared at Brockert during his brief speech for bringing it all up again, then turned gratefully to the table. It was a long way from Montana to Arizona, plus he’d had to take another two trips, one by van and one by Floo, to get from Alberta to Montana before that, and now he’d had to think about all this. He wanted a drink right now the way he wanted air when swimming underwater. Unfortunately, however, one of the second years had gotten to the teapot first. “Pass that to me when you’re done with it?” he asked Pye, hoping the other boy would do this before attending to milk or sugar or whatever he did to his if he wasn’t the sort who drank it straight.

16 John Umland We have that in common. Go us. 285 John Umland 0 5

Emery

August 21, 2015 8:35 PM

I wish more people were aware of this. by Emery

When Emrys’s response on the pie was nothing more than a it’s good, Emery knew that whatever had been bothering his friend was far worse than Emery had given it credit. Emrys was usually an upbeat and happy guy. Everything was falling into place for his friend as far as Emery could tell. He got the badge, he got the girl, he had friends… Emery honestly wasn’t sure what was bothering him except that it had to deal with family. He wondered, briefly, if his family felt that Charlotte was inappropriate for him and now after all these years of pining after the girl, and getting said girl, Emrys was being forced to let girl go.

But that didn’t really make much sense. Even Emery could tell that Charlotte was like the poster girl for Purebloods. If Charlotte didn’t pass a Pureblood family’s approval list than he wasn’t entirely sure that anyone could.

So, it had to be something else.

Emery didn’t want to pry though, especially while they were in the middle of the crowded hall. Emery would hate it if Emrys just started asking personal questions for anyone to hear. With all the rumors and would be secrets being spread around the school, Emery did not want to become part of any of that. And he certainly didn’t want to be the cause of that to someone either. Of course, Emery was a very private person, so what was personal to him might not be so personal to someone else. However, Emery didn’t have to ask anything because soon Emrys was speaking for himself. The pie must have loosened his lips some.

He nodded at first, already aware that he was his best friend and not really understanding where this was going. And then he realized what this was about and a part of him froze up on the inside. Blood was something that was important to other people. His father had been disowned by his family due to having Chloe out of wedlock, his grandmother had been disowned for marrying a Muggle, Angel’s family really messed things up with the whole incest thing… But, for some reason, Emery never thought that would be an issue between himself and Emrys. It stung a little knowing that blood might actually be an issue between them. “Yeah, of course.” He responded, not really sure what else to say to that.

So, the issue was blood. Emery was not a Pureblood. He wasn’t really sure what he was considering his father was unknown, but he definitely was not a Pureblood. Half without question. But not Pure. He didn’t think Emrys’s family would care all too much about that though, at least not with him. It wasn’t like Emery and Emrys were going to fall in love and get married. They were only friends. So, it had to be something else that was upsetting his friend. Maybe his parents were forcing a betrothal? Or maybe there was one going on with his sister? Although, that seemed pretty young to be doing that at this point…

“Oh, um…” Emery started, uncertain as to what to talk about. His holiday, though a much needed time with his family, wasn’t all that grand of a thing to talk about and certainly not always a happy topic what with Angel so sick all the time. “My holiday was pretty good. My parents got me these cool new sneakers.” Emery showed them off as best he could from under the table. “And we were able to find time to go into town to do some shopping.” Shopping wasn’t always fun, but Emery always enjoyed being able to get into the Magical town close by instead of the Muggle one that he lived in. The difference between them as like night and day.

“It was kind of boring.” He said with a shrug. “How was your time with family?” Maybe if he left it vague enough, Emrys wouldn’t feel like Emery was pushing for answers.

6 Emery I wish more people were aware of this. 0 Emery 0 5

Louis Valois

August 23, 2015 8:00 AM

Rather glad to be back by Louis Valois

Louis sat at the Aladren table, listening to the hum of chatter all around him. He’d missed being at Sonora, a fact which surprised him.

The holidays had been a nice chance to spend time with his family, speak French again (he was disturbed by how that had seemed almost uncomfortable at first!) and catch up with his old friends, who had all been obnoxiously full of stories about their time at Beauxbatons. Louis had felt a little left out, surrounded by their familiarity and comradeship and inside jokes. Of course, his experiences at Sonora had no doubt been more enjoyable than theirs, but his anecdotes seemed boring compared to the way they all joined in to tell him about ‘that time in Charms, you remember, with old Maxime’ and ‘oh don’t forget that night, you know, when we forgot the [cue giggles]’.

Thinking back, the whole holiday actually had a rather dissatisfying air to it. The small family manoir they always stayed at for Christmas had seemed rather empty with just the three of them (and the servants and house elves, not that they really counted), and Louis, used to the near-constant company of others, no longer found as much interest in reading for hours or practising flying alone. The rest of the holiday, spent in Paris, hadn't been quite so bad, what with there always being things to do and see, and new places to eat at, but Louis had still felt lonely.

He shook his head, stopping his contemplations of the past few weeks, and reached out to pour himself another glass of pumpkin juice. “Would you like a refill?” he asked the person sitting next to him, noticing their glass seemed sadly empty too.

OOC: Sorry I've been away so long, holidays etc. lead to me being unable to post for far long than I thought! But I'm back now!

9 Louis Valois Rather glad to be back 314 Louis Valois 0 5

Joella Curtis

August 23, 2015 10:03 AM

Everything has changed. by Joella Curtis

There were always mixed feelings upon returning to Sonora after a good break but this time there was another part of Joella that felt something nervous as she entered Cascade Hall for the first time in the new year. She felt matured and older than she had in the first semester and almost like she was becoming the real young lady she was supposed to be. It was an unfamiliar feelings but she kind of liked it.

It was all she could do not to look at Alistair Johnson across the room whilst she sat at the Pecari table, listening politely to the headmaster's brief speech. The mention of the vandalism that had sparked so much gossip and question caught her attention for a moment but since she hadn’t been able to get to the bottom of it before she highly doubted there was any point her worrying about it. Surely the vandalist had had their fun and would drop their cruel game now?

As she began serving herself the wonderful foods available, Joella couldn’t resist stealing a glance over at Alistair. He beat her to it and she was met instantly with those brown eyes. He smiled and that, matched with the bit of hair hanging down that had escaped from the gel and those eyes, made her feel weird. It was a good weird but weird all the same. She sent him a smile in response but when he broke his gaze and she returned to her meal, Joella thought she could feel herself blushing. Ignoring the mild heat in her cheeks, however, the third year turned to her neighbour cheerfully.

“Did you have a good Christmas?” she asked, not stopping to think about the fact that she’d just assumed her fellow Pecari had even celebrated the Christian festival during the midterm break.

8 Joella Curtis Everything has changed. 295 Joella Curtis 0 5

Caelia

September 03, 2015 4:36 AM

My shame. by Caelia

Caelia always enjoyed Kelsey’s company. Her friend was exactly the sort of witch that Grandmother Viviane approved of and upon announcing their friendship in her first letter home after they had met each other, Grandmother Viviane had written back a gushing letter (well, as gushing as Grandmother Viviane got) praising Caelia for her excellent choice in company before spiraling into an open yet somehow subtle critique of Emrys’ choice in friends. However, those thoughts were far from her mind as Kelsey said that she’d had a nice break and then responded in kind by asking about Caelia.

“Surprisingly?” she said with a lighthearted grin. “Yes!” She rolled her eyes and hunched in close to Kelsey as though about to share an extremely important secret. “Mother took us away to her parents for the entirety of break which meant I had no parties to go to, no fancy dinners to dress up for, just boringly stiff conversations and plainness.” It was no secret to her best friend that Caelia preferred Grandmother Viviane’s company to the Quinns. However it was also an unspoken fact that Caelia did love her mother’s parents even if they did live an utterly plain lifestyle despite having the resources and ability to live a more prominent, extravagant one.

“However,” she said now, brightening up at the thought of the barrette that was wrapped up in her trunk in the dorm room just waiting to be handed over to Kelsey. “When Emrys took me to the shops I did manage to find something I think you might like. I’ll give it to you when we go back up to the dorm.” Thinking of the new year ahead of the rest of the year that she would have to hang out with Kelsey and get to know Kira better pleased Caelia and as she glanced around the room taking in the familiar (magical) faces she breathed a sigh of relief. She didn’t plan on going back to the Quinns again unless Mother forced her to, and should she ever find herself at those grandparents she would simply just avoid.

“Green beans?” she asked politely as she spooned some of the green vegetables onto her plate.

OOC: Sorry that it took so long to get back to you and that it's such a short response too :(

10 Caelia My shame. 307 Caelia 0 5